Out of the Fog

[Deleted]

Bryan wasn't happy. To say the least. Bellamy's Grounder-y sister had warned the Grounders that they were coming, and the Grounders had laid out a trap. They'd lost one of their people to it. Bryan didn't know Zoe Monroe well. He'd really just met her, as he had Bellamy and Monty after Pike assembled his council. He didn't feel any personal loss, but he could see it on Monty and Bellamy's faces as they drove back to Arkadia, so Bryan kept his mouth shut.

Of the three Arkadians Bryan had met on the council, Monty was the one Bryan was least sure of. Monroe had seemed happy to be on Pike's council, and it was patently obvious that Pike both needed and trusted Bellamy, so Bryan did too. Monty, however, seemed far less sure about following Pike. So when Monty had run back into the poisoned fog for Monroe, and Bryan had to drag Hannah back out of it when she tried to go after him... well, at the time he'd just acted on instinct. Hadn't thought about it. But the longer they drove back to Arkadia, with Monroe's body in the back of the rover, covered by a sheet, the more it started to bother him. Hannah might be Monty's mom, but she was Bryan's people. She and Bryan had become Pike's most trusted among Farm Station, and like hell he was going to lose her over something thoughtless.

But he held his tongue, waiting until they were back at Arkadia, waiting until Monroe's body was dealt with, waiting until he was alone with Monty. "What the hell were you thinking running back into that village?" Bryan muttered, trying to hold back at first. He didn't know Monty's temperament. Not well, anyway. He knew Monty was thinking he could save Monroe, but it seemed clear to everyone but Monty in that moment that Monroe was lost already.

Tag: Monty Green

[Monty Green]

Nobody had expected the grounders to retaliate as they had, the fog that they'd somehow created burnt your lungs if you breathed it in and made it almost impossible to breathe. Monty had been retreating with the rest of the group when he'd heard Monroe's desperate calls. He'd heard her calling for him, begging for his help, of course he hadn't hesitated when he pulled free from the men that had been dragging him along by the arms. Without a second thought for his own safety, he'd ran back into the fog in search of his friend, he'd tried to avoid breathing in the strange fog as much as possible but when he'd found Monroe on the floor coughing and gasping for air, it was obvious that she hadn't attempted to do the same. Monty had pulled her to her feet and together they'd stumbled back towards where he'd last seen the others, they made it out of the fog and to the safety of their own people but Monty realised his efforts to save her had been in vain as he was forced to watch her die moments after they'd put her down on the floor.

The drive back to Arkadia had been silent, Monty's thoughts were occupied by things that they could've done differently, that he could've done differently. Everything had just gone wrong, nobody was supposed to die, that's what he kept telling himself but really, what had he expected? They went to that village with the intention of driving the grounders from their land, maybe if Octavia hadn't interfered, they would have succeeded and Monroe would still be alive. Now she lay in the back of the rover with a sheet covering her lifeless body. When they arrived back at Arkadia, Monty was quick to leave the rover and he watched as Monroe's body was carried from the vehicle before looking down at the ground, he waited by the rover until the majority of the others had left and then there was just him and the boy he knew was called Bryan.

Monty was just about to leave when Bryan's voice stopped him and his whole body tensed as he let the words sink in. He barely knew the other boy, all he knew was that they came from the same station and he was dating Miller, they hadn't even spoken on the ark, Monty recalled seeing him around a few times but he couldn't remember ever having a real conversation with him. "Excuse me?" he asked, unsure if he'd heard Bryan correctly at first. "I wasn't thinking, I was trying to save her life, she was dying!" he muttered his reply with a shake of his head as he raised his head to look at the other boy, he didn't care what Bryan thought of his actions, he couldn't just stand back and watch her die, he had to do something, even if what he'd done hadn't made a difference in the end.

@bryanbryanbryan

[Deleted]

"Yeah, she was," Bryan said. She was dying. Dying before Monty ran back into that village. Everyone else seemed to understand that. Bryan sighed. Maybe he shouldn't have brought this up right now, so soon after what had happened, but he felt like he had too. It seemed like Monty didn't have a lot of experience on the battlefield, and he could get himself, or others, killed if he kept acting like he did today.

"Look, I know she was your friend, and I'm sorry." Sorry for bringing this up now, and sorry for Monty's loss. "She seemed like a good person." Good people died all the time. Iris was dead. Bryan pushed the memory of Iris away before it threatened to make him more emotional. "But you could have died too. And your mother." And me, Bryan didn't say. "She ran in after you, and I had to pull her back out!" he said, his voice rising a little. He doubted Monty had seen any of that in his attempt to save his friend.

Tag: Monty Green

[Monty Green]

"I couldn't do nothing!" Monty argued, raising his voice slightly. He couldn't understand why Bryan was fighting him on this, if he had the opportunity to save one of his own people then Monty doubted that he'd let that opportunity pass by, of course he didn't know him well enough to assume that. Bryan might be okay with standing back and watching one of his friends die but Monty was not. "She was alive when I went back for her, I had to try" maybe it had been stupid of him to run back into the village when he knew that the fog could kill him, but leaving Monroe to die alone like that wasn't an option, not for him, he didn't care who his actions upset. "She was calling for help..." that alone had been enough to make him go back for her, hearing her calling for him to help her, he couldn't just leave her behind.

Bryan's apology fell on deaf ears, he wasn't sorry, he was practically telling him that he was wrong for going back for her, that trying to save her life had been the wrong thing to do. "She was a good person!" Monty interjected quickly as he listened to the other boy talk "she was one of the best and if you were in her position then she'd go back for you" Bryan barely knew Monroe, Monty didn't expect him to understand why he'd gone back for her. Enough people had died already, he just hadn't wanted to watch another friend die, he thought that he could save her, but he'd been wrong. At the mention of his mother, Monty looked at Bryan in surprise, he hadn't seen his mother follow him into the fog, he'd heard her calling to him but he'd ignored her calls, he hadn't thought for a second that she'd chase after him. "I didn't ask her to do that" he eventually muttered in response "it was my choice to go back for Monroe, I didn't ask anyone to follow me" he wouldn't ask anyone to do that, especially not his mother, he'd already lost his father to the grounders and he wasn't about to lose his mother too. Part of him was grateful to Bryan for stopping her, maybe even for saving her life, but another part of him couldn't shake what the other boy was saying to him, Monroe's body was barely even cold and already Bryan was telling him that he should've just left her, without even trying.

@bryanbryanbryan

[Deleted]

Bryan listened as Monty defended his actions, and Monroe--though she didn't need to be defended, as Bryan's words had only been positive about her. But Monty had lost someone, and Bryan understood that. It wasn't his intention to cause Monty any more pain than he was in, and if it made Monty feel good to tell Bryan what a good person Monroe was, Bryan understood that too. He wasn't convinced Monroe would have risked her life for his, though. They'd only just met.

Instead, Bryan focused on what he was upset about, rather than on the dead. Nothing good would come from focusing on that. "You didn't ask her to do that, no, but what did you think she was going to do, Monty? She hasn't seen you in five months. She didn't even know if you were alive or dead all that time. From everything I know of your mother, she's not going to lose you again so easily," Bryan said. "And I'm not willing to lose her."

Tag: Monty Green

[Monty Green]

Monty could understand why his mother had attempted to follow him, she’d done it for the same reason that he’d gone in after Monroe. She didn’t want him to die and Monty understood that, equally, he didn’t want her to die. She was his mother and he’d only just got her back, he didn’t think he’d be able to forgive himself if he was the one responsible for her death. “I didn’t expect her to follow me” he should have expected it, she was his mother, he should know better than to think that she’d just stand back and watch him die.

Bryan had obviously developed a strong bond with his mother, it was obvious to Monty in the way that he spoke of her and it irritated him. He wasn’t jealous, there was nothing to be jealous about, his mother was allowed to have friends, your friends were your support system. They’d probably been there for each other when they’d lost people, when his father had died and he couldn’t be there for her. Monty didn’t want to lose her either, he wasn’t exactly on speaking terms with Jasper at that moment so his mother was the only family he had left and he wasn’t about to throw that away. “Nobody is going to lose her” he muttered, trying to meet Bryan’s eyes when he spoke, he would never purposefully endanger his mother’s life, but he had and the truth was that he could have lost her because of his actions.

"Maybe I should have thought about it first, before I went back for Monroe" he admitted "but I don't regret doing it, I could have saved her, I had to try" he wasn't going to apologise for trying to save her life. Not when his actions hadn't brought harm to anyone else, there could have been more casualties, but there weren't, the others hadn't come to any harm, his mother was safe. "If we hesitate then people could die" he'd rather attempt to save lives than hesitate and watch the people he cared about die.

@bryanbryanbryan

[Deleted]

When Monty said no one was going to lose Hannah, Bryan was tempted to argue that they didn't know that, but the tone of Monty's voice was starting to knock the wind out of Bryan's sails a little. When Monty continued that maybe he should have thought about it first, but concluding that if they hesitated, people could die, Bryan let out a gusty breath and went to sit in the nearest chair. He was right. Bryan hasn't hesitated to run in after Hannah, though maybe not as deep as Monty had run back in. "You're right," he admitted scrubbing his hands over his face. The thought of losing Hannah had been upsetting enough for him to start this conversation, but now, it was just the two of them, and Bryan knew he could just as easily done what Monty had for Hannah, or Pike, or Shawn or any number of people.

He ran his hands through his hair, then leaned forward, bracing his elbows against his knees. He clasped his hands in front of himself and looked down at them. "I'm sorry. We've just... been through so much," he said. He and Hannah. Farm station. And he knew that the kids sent down here first had been through a lot too, but they'd also lived through times of relative peace, too. They'd had three months of a ceasefire that Azgeda certainly hadn't observed when it came to Farm Station. Bryan had spend his entire time on Earth fighting Azgeda, and maybe sometimes he forgot his tact. He sighed again and looked at Monty with sincerity in his gaze. "I really am sorry about your friend."

Tag: Monty Green

[Monty Green]

"You're right" Monty hadn't expected to hear those words from the other man as he watched him walk over and sit down in a chair. Bryan had been the one to confront him, he'd been the one to start the argument, Monty definitely hadn't expected him to sit down and say that he was right. If anything, he thought that Bryan might force him to apologise for needlessly endangering the lives of the others in the group. Walking over to Bryan, he pulled up a chair next to him and sat down, he knew that Bryan was just trying to protect his people, the people that he'd been with since arriving on earth, the people he was loyal to and cared about. Monty knew that his mother was among those people and knew that if the roles were reversed and Bryan had been the one to endanger his mothers life, then he would probably react in the same way.

"I know... I heard what the grounders did when you got down here" he muttered, his mother and Pike had filled him in when he'd asked about what had happened to his father. "This isn't exactly how I imagined earth" he hadn't thought that they'd have people trying to kill them when they first came down. After watching so many people die on the ground, Monty thought that he'd be used to death by now, but it didn't seem to get any easier each time "I just want today to be over" he told Bryan, once the day was over they could move on. It seemed harsh to think about moving on so soon after her death, but they couldn't do anything to change what had happened, they couldn't bring the dead back to life and moving on just seemed so much less painful than dwelling on what had happened.

@bryanbryanbryan

[Deleted]

Bryan watched as Monty pulled a chair over to sit next to him, relieved that Monty didn't seem to want to continue the argument any longer either. Bryan was tired, and he wanted nothing more than to go home to Nate and sleep in his arms. But Monroe was one of the kids the Ark sent down with Nate, and he wasn't sure how close she and Nate had been, but he really didn't want to face Nate's scrutiny right now over what had happened on this mission. He could feel a growing tension between them, and he couldn't bare it to get worse right now.

When Monty spoke of what happened to Farm Station when they came down, Bryan looked away. He didn't know Monty's father, but he knew he died that day along with so many children. He wondered if he ought to say he was sorry about Monty's dad, but he thought the words might sound hollow coming from someone who didn't know the man, and barely knew Monty at this point, so he let Monty keep talking.

"I can understand that," Bryan said, when Monty finished. He wanted today to be over too, though he knew tomorrow would just be more of the same. "I thought I'd be farming, not fighting," he admitted, in response to Monty saying this wasn't how he imagined Earth. "I couldn't wait to feel the sun on my skin and real soil under my fingernails." He huffed a bitter laugh and shook his head at how absurd and far fetched that idea sounded now, then glanced at Monty. "You wanna go get a drink?" he asked. He couldn't drink much. Just one made his cheeks feel warm and took the edge off, but more than that he couldn't risk, just in case something happened and he needed to fight.

Tag: Monty Green

[Monty Green]

Monty knew that earth was the ultimate disappointment, it was supposed to be this amazing planet, the planet that they'd dreamed about so many times. If anybody at arkadia told him that they'd never dreamt about earth before actually getting to go there, then he wouldn't believe them. There wasn't supposed to be so much death, Monty had expected it to be challenging, especially when he'd first arrived on earth with the other delinquents without any adults, but he hadn't expected to be hunted by territorial grounders, that was not part of the dream. When Bryan told him that he thought that he'd be farming and not fighting when he came down, Monty smiled "maybe one day you'll get back to farming" he suggested. He didn't see it happening any time soon, but maybe one day if they ever had lasting peace with the grounders, when they didn't spend every day fearing for their lives and being unable to tell if they'd see tomorrow.

Monty could remember feeling the same sense of excitement that Bryan spoke of experiencing, he'd been scared on his journey to earth, scared that earth wasn't yet survivable and they'd all die from being exposed to the radiation, but there was also that excitement. He'd been excited for the little things, to see the trees and to hear the birds, how different the forest smelt after it had rained opposed to when it was dry. Things he'd only ever read about in books but never got to experience first hand. 'You wanna go get a drink?' the question dragged Monty out of his thoughts and he nodded at Bryan "a drink sounds good" he confirmed, getting to his feet and waiting for the other man to join him. Monty didn't drink often, not anymore, making moonshine was easy enough but he found that it was hard to keep a clear head whilst under the influence of alcohol and it was important to be able to function properly when everything on earth seemed to want to kill them. Anyway, Jasper had always been his drinking partner in the past and they weren't talking, Jasper seemed to prefer drinking alone after Mt Weather, Monty didn't like it but he didn't see what he could do to stop it. He'd tried to be there for his friend but he just kept pushing him away, so he'd just stopped trying and now it wasn't often that anyone invited him to drink with them.

@bryanbryanbryan

[Deleted]

Monty smiled, suggesting maybe one day Bryan would be farming again, and as nice as that sounded, Bryan didn't have a smile in him to return. He couldn't really see it ever happening. After that, Monty seemed thoughtful for a bit before answering Bryan's question. "Good," he said in response, standing and following Monty out. He wasn't quite sure what to think of this. He'd meant to be angry with Monty, but it flooded away so quickly, because Monty was right. Bryan would have followed Hannah into that fog as deeply as Monty had run in for Monroe if he had to. He'd found himself opening up to Monty instead of fighting him for longer, and now Bryan just felt tired, and he didn't want to go back home and see Nate. Or tel Nate that Monroe was dead, if he hadn't heard already.

They made their way to the hanger and got their drinks, seeming to not have much to say on the way. Once they settled, though, Bryan broke the silence. "I've never really been much of a drinker," he said, eyeing his cup before lifting it up toward Monty. "But... to Monroe. And your dad," he said, waiting for Monty to return the cheers before he would take a sip.

Tag: Monty Green
Note: I godmodded a bit, so tell me if I need to edit!